


I Think You Need a Doctor

by Allthefandoms22



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bisexual Dean, Jock Dean, Lots of Fandom References, M/M, Nerd Dean, Nerdiness, Popular Dean, fandom references, nerd!dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 06:05:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2013885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allthefandoms22/pseuds/Allthefandoms22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean was the most popular kid at school.<br/>Halfway through his junior year, nearly everyone at Lawrence High School knew him. It was hard not to; he talked back to all the teachers, he had dated almost every girl in the school, and he was the captain of the football team.<br/>Everyone loved him, and none of them realized how hard he worked to keep it that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dean was the most popular kid at school.  
Halfway through his junior year, nearly everyone at Lawrence High School knew him. It was hard not to; he talked back to all the teachers, he had dated almost every girl in the school, and he was the captain of the football team.  
Everyone loved him, and none of them realized how hard he worked to keep it that way.  
The truth was, Dean wasn't like everyone thought he was. Sure, he was the star of the football team, but only because his dad made him try out. And yeah, he had a reputation for short-lived relationships, but that was because he just never really felt a connection with the girls he'd dated. And talking back to the teachers—okay, that one was accurate.  
These truths were harmless. If they got out, sure, there'd be a few jokes cracked at his expense, but his reputation wouldn't be destroyed or anything. Other truths...they would ruin him.  
For example, his favorite TV show wasn't "The Big Bang Theory" or "Family Guy" or any of the other shows his friends watched, it was was "Dr. Sexy, M. D." And as much as he teased his "geek" brother, both siblings knew that Dean was the overenthusiastic fan who'd introduced Sam to Harry Potter and Star Trek. And Dean may or may not have a fear of angel statues and a fez stashed in the back of his closet. Now _those_ truths could really wreck a reputation.  
Dean put a lot of effort into concealing his nerdiness, but sometimes, things just slipped.  
Like when he got bored at lunch and carved "IOU" into an apple.  
Or when he asked for "second breakfast" at the home of his most recent ex, Lisa.  
Or when he shouted "Alohamora!" at the door of Mr. Crowley's economic classroom when Crowley was late.  
Luckily, his friends didn't know enough about Sherlock, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or any other fandoms he accidentally referenced to realize what he was doing. In fact, few people ever noticed when Dean did something out of the ordinary like that.  
Except for Cas.  
Castiel Novak was a bit of a social outcast. He didn't watch TV, he rarely kept up with the news, he didn't listen to music, and he was _terrible_ at social interaction. The only thing he was good at was school, so that's what he devoted most of his time to. And school involved Dean Winchester.  
It was cliché, he knew—falling for the popular jock everyone loved. But that was just it—everyone loved him. If Cas had any chance of even talking to Dean, he would have to stand out. Unfortunately, Cas wasn't very good at that. Usually his attempts at getting noticed—or even just trying to be helpful—resulted in him getting injured or embarrassed.  
Like when Dean almost got busted for skipping detention, and Cas tried to distract the teacher but fell off a chair, resulting in a trip to the nurse.  
Or that one time he got temporary amnesia from a head injury involving one of Dean's football games and a clumsy trombone player.  
Or when one of Dean's ex-friends tricked him into pulling the fire alarm. That made him almost as popular as Dean—not in a good way, though.  
But Cas didn't give up. After that last experience, though, he decided that getting Dean's attention would require more planning.  
He knew (or thought he knew) that Dean liked football, but a few hundred people attended each game, so there was no way for him to make an impression there.  
He also knew that Dean liked cars, but what was he supposed to do with that information? "Happy Valentine's Day, Dean! I bought you _motor oil_."  
He could always participate when Dean was giving the teachers a hard time, but Castiel wasn't very good with sass—or insults, for that matter. His brothers still weren't letting him live down "assbutt".  
The only other thing he knew Dean liked was women, and that obviously wouldn't help him.  
So, he had to dig a little deeper.  
He and Dean had several classes together during the second semester, so Castiel used those periods to learn more about the football star. He paid extra attention to Dean whenever he saw him, and made mental notes of everything he'd learned.  
The first two weeks, he learned nothing from his scrutiny. But the third week was when Dean slipped up.  
During one of Crowley's more boring lectures, Cas had glanced at Dean and saw him absent-mindedly drawing tally marks on his arm in Sharpie. When one of his friends asked him about it at lunch, Dean told him through stifled laughter that he had no memory of making them.  
 _Okay,_ Cas thought. _That was a little weird._  
Dean's next slip-up was a week later, in P. E. When one of Dean's friends started complaining about a draft, he was overheard by their teacher, Ms. Mills, who told him the gym was haunted. Dean then asked her if someone—or something—called "Peeves" was doing the haunting.  
There were several other odd comments in the following weeks, and Castiel noted all of them. He had gotten up to seven when spring break rolled around, and he finally had enough of a break from his homework to look up what Dean had been talking about.  
As soon as he got home from school, Cas Googled "tally marks on arms" and clicked one of the first results, a Wikipedia article entitled "Silence (Doctor Who)".  
"The Silence? What is that, a cult?" he wondered as the page loaded. He glanced at the picture in the top right corner and jumped.  
Evidently, Dean had more layers than he thought. 

 

Castiel finished the article five minutes later. Okay, so Dean wasn't part of a cult. Good. But he still had layers.  
Further research told Castiel that Dean Winchester, captain of the football team, was a _nerd_. All the kids typical football teams picked on— _Dean_ was one of them. He was just lucky enough to have muscles, which is apparently more noticeable than an obsession with a madman in a box.  
Cas realized he probably wasn't supposed to know this. Dean never talked about this kind of stuff in public—or at least he tried not to—and for a reason. People with extensive knowledge of Harry Potter's family tree usually weren't in good standing with the football team, and to make it worse, if Dean was kicked out of the popular crowd, he'd be rejected by every other social group at his and Cas's school out of fear of the football team.  
At Lawrence, there was no band of nerd kids who hated the football and got made fun of by the other kids like in the movies. In fact, Cas realized, he didn't know of any nerds at their school (except Dean, obviously).  
A plan started forming in Cas's mind, and he smiled.  
This was how he was going to stand out.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean didn't notice the change immediately, probably because Cas was about as noticeable as Matthew Williams. In fact, he didn't notice until two weeks after spring break ended.   
And when he did notice, he wasn't even completely sure it had happened, because, well... _Sherlock_ had been on hiatus for awhile. And they were in America. So the chances of someone in his school bring able to reference _The Blind Banker_ were pretty low.   
Yet, when he walked into his math classroom that Wednesday, he was sure he saw the teacher erasing from the whiteboard the same symbol used by the Black Lotus assassin to warn people of their approaching demise.   
Then, in science class a day later, he thought he heard someone say "Don't blink. Blink and you're dead," after the teacher told everyone to pay attention to some dumb video they were watching.   
And he was pretty sure he heard someone humming "Marukaite Chikyuu" during Economics.   
But he never saw the face or heard the name of the person—or people—responsible. Not until a week later, when he managed to catch Castiel Novak, or That Idiot Who Pulled the Fire Alarm That One Time (as most of the school knew him) in the process of writing "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware," on the whiteboard in their science classroom.   
"Hey!" Dean called, setting his books down.   
Cas turned around hopefully. "Hm?" He capped the marker and put it back on the tray, not bothering to finish the message.   
"Are you the guy who drew that symbol on the board in Mr. Roman's room? And quoted _Blink_ in science last week? And hummed the Hetalia theme during Mr. Crowley's class until he told you to shut up?"  
"Yeah," Cas said nervously. "You watch Sherlock and Doctor Who and Hetalia. I mean, do you watch Sherlock and Doctor Who and Hetalia?"  
"Uh...yeah, sometimes," Dean lied, glancing about warily in case one of his teammates was in the vicinity. "Um...do you like Marvel, too? 'Cause I thought I heard someone say "Hail Hydra" in the hall the other day."  
Cas smiled shyly. "Yeah, that was me. I—"  
The bell rang, the students scrambled to sit at their desks, and Mr. Stark entered the classroom soon afterwards. He stopped short when he saw the board. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the he," he read aloud before erasing Cas's work. "I didn't realize Ginny Weasley was in my fourth period class."  
Most of the students cast each other confused looks at that remark, but Dean and Cas locked eyes and smirked at each other from across the room.   
Cas didn't pay much attention in class that day; he was too focused on the fact that he has managed to talk to Dean Winchester without screwing everything up. He kept casting side glances at Dean throughout the class, but always turned away as soon as Dean's head moved. He didn't want to be caught staring.   
Little did he know, Dean was staring too.   
Dean, however, wasn't staring because of a long-time crush. He was staring because he didn't think there was anyone at his school who even knew what the Chamber of Secrets _was_. But the more he looked, the more an annoying little voice in the back of his mind murmured things like _You know, he's kinda cute_ and _There might not be anyone else here that likes Doctor Who, Sherlock, Marvel, Harry Potter,_ and _Hetalia. You should invite him over or something._  
He wasn't sure where the "cute" thing came from, but the voice in the back of his head (his subconscious? Charles Xavier?) was right; there probably weren't any other people like Castiel—at least not at his school. This was a rare opportunity, and he wasn't going to miss it.   
When class ended, Dean went straight over to Cas's desk instead of the door. "Hey, um, Cas?"  
Cas finished packing up his stuff and looked up at Dean. "Yes?"  
"I, uh, I got the Hetalia movie on DVD last week. You know, "Paint It, White!"? If you want, you could come over tomorrow and we could watch it. Order pizza if something."  
Cas tried not to jump up and down with joy. "Yeah, sure! That'd be great!"  
Dean smiled and started to walk towards the door, Cas by his side. "Cool. I'll pick you up at ten, then? What's your address?"  
"Oh, I'll write it down. Um," Cas paused and set his stuff on a random desk. He ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook, quickly scrawled something on it, and handed it to Dean. "Here. I put my phone number on there, too, just if you wanna call me or something. I should go, I have to get to Latin," he added as he picked up his stack of school supplies. "I'll see you tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder as he left.   
Dean folded up the paper and put it on his pocket.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3  
Dean pulled into Castiel's driveway at ten o'clock sharp the next morning. He opened the door to get out and ring the doorbell, but closed it when he saw Cas was already walking out to the car.   
"Hey, Cas," Dean called.   
"Hello, Dean," Cas replied as he circled around to the passenger side. Dean started the Impala once Cas closed the door, and rock music filled the car.   
"Led Zeppelin?" Cas asked as Dean backed out of the driveway.   
"Yep," Dean responded as the song changed. "Ooh, this is a good one. It's about—"  
"The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. I'm familiar with it."  
Dean glanced over to his companion. "You a Tolkien fan?"  
"I haven't had time to read the books other than the one we read in English last year, but I've seen the movie version of _The Fellowship of the Ring_."  
"I've got the box set at my house. The movies, I mean. You can borrow 'em if you want."  
"Thank you, Dean."  
They were both quiet for bit, then Dean asked, "Okay, exactly how many of my fandoms are you in?"  
Castiel's eyes widened slightly with panic. "Um, I'm not sure. Uh, there's Sherlock, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Hetalia, Marvel, Lord of the Rings—that's six," he said, counting on his fingers. "Uh, I've seem some of the early _Star Trek_ episodes, do you like that?" he asked, pretending he didn't already know the answer.   
"Are you kidding me? I love _Star Trek_! Okay, um, have you heard of _Welcome to Night Vale_?"  
"Yeah!" Cas said, starting to feel uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm on "First Date"."  
"Oh, that's my favorite episode! I feel like a girl saying this, but Cecil and Carlos are really cute in that one. Hm, what else...have you heard of _Attack on Titan_?"  
Cas froze. In hindsight, he wasn't sure why. It's not like Dean was going to throw him out of a moving car for being unfamiliar with an anime. "Um, I haven't heard of that."  
"That's okay. We can watch a couple episodes after the movie.   
Cas let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Okay. That sounds good."  
They were quiet until the song ended, then Dean remarked, "Man, how weird is it that we have so much in common? Where have you been all my life?"  
Cas tried to cover up his nerves by replying, "You know, I'm tempted to respond with, "In a cupboard, under some stairs", but that would probably induce a Harry Potter-themed singing fest, and I can't sing, so I won't." Dean laughed. "But, about the "we have do much in common" thing..." He took a deep breath. Time to come clean. "I noticed you were saying a lot of weird, random stuff before break, like "All Hail the Glow Cloud" and "Live Long and Prosper", stuff look that. So I looked up what you were saying and doing, and I found all these TV shows and movies and stuff that got like, and—" Cas paused, and took another breath. "And, and I had liked you for awhile by then, and...and I watched the first five seasons of the new _Doctor Who_ , and I found season one of _Sherlock_ on YouTube, and I basically watched and listened to all this stuff so I could understand all you references and, I don't know, impress you, I guess." Castiel realized they had parked in a driveway, presumably Dean's. "I was just trying to get your attention. It was dumb."  
Dean turned off the car. "Really?"  
Cas nodded. "Yes."  
Dean was quiet for a minute. _Probably mad,_ Cas thought. _Or creeped out. He's never going to talk to me again. He's—_  
"Cas," Dean said, "That's one of the most thoughtful things anyone's ever done for me."  
 _Wait, what?_  
Cas looked up at him. "It is?"  
Dean let out a sort of half-laugh. "Are you kidding? You watched _The Fellowship of the Ring_ , two days worth of _Doctor Who_ , four hours of _Sherlock_ , listened to twenty-something episodes of _Welcome to Night Vale_ , watched _Hetalia_ , watched _The Winter Soldier_ , watched _Star Trek_ and _Harry Potter_ —all to impress me?" He was beaming.   
"You're...you're not mad? Or creeped out?"  
Dean laughed. "Cas, I've been mentioning that stuff offhandedly to my friends ever since I started high school. None of them ever bothered to spend their spring break watching TV shows and movies to discuss with me. You're the first person who cared enough about me to learn about the stuff I like. Why would I be creeped out?"  
"Well, the bit about scrutinizing everything you said, harboring a major crush on you for seven months...that was kinda creepy, in hindsight."  
"Scrutinizing? Cas, I shouted "All Hail the Glow Cloud" at the top of my lungs during lunch a couple weeks ago. Even Anderson would have noticed something off about that." Cas smiled. "And the crush thing...eh, kind of expected. I mean, who wouldn't like _this_?" He gestured to himself. "Face it, I'm the Finnick Odair of Lawrence High."  
"Isn't Finnick dead? And married? And a skilled swimmer and fisherman with PTSD?" Cas smiled.   
Dean tilted his head. "Hm. You're right. Maybe I'm Captain Jack Harkness."  
"An immortal bisexual con man from the 51st century with really great hair?"  
Dean shrugged. "Eh, two out of five ain't bad," he said. He moved to get out of the car, then froze, as if just realizing what he had said.   
"...Two out of five?" Cas asked.   
"What, don't you think I have great hair?" Dean tried to joke.   
"No, no, you definitely have great hair." Cas said. "I just didn't think you were bi. Or a con man, since that's the only other plausible option."  
"Well, you know. Football team. Changing in front of a bunch of homophobic guys. You sorta learn to hide it."  
There was another pause, then Cas said, "Maybe you're not Captain Jack, then. He's too flamboyant. You're more like the Doctor. You've got so many secrets, so many stories that no one knows. And everyone likes you," he added.   
Dean grinned. "If you like me, and I'm the Doctor, does that make you Amy?"  
Cas shoved him playfully. "Shut up. Besides, Amy's got a husband."  
"Martha?"  
"Martha's a med student. I know nothing about medicine, therefore, I am not Martha."  
"Rose?"  
"Rose absorbed energy from the TARDIS, piloted it to the Doctor, and saved his butt, along with everyone else's, by blowing up all the Dalekd with a single thought. And she brought Jack back to life and made him immortal. Rose was awesome." Cas smiled. "So yes, I am Rose."  
"Yeah, but she almost died after doing all that. Remember?"  
"It's kind of hard to forget. 'My head...it's killing me!'" Cas quoted in a high-pitched voice and British accent.   
"I think you need a Doctor," Dean replied, and kissed him.   
Dean wasn't really sure what made him do it. It probably wasn't just the thrill if spontaneous cosplays without costumes (seeing as that wasn't really a thing). And it's not like this was his favorite moment in _Doctor Who_ or anything. (That would be the time all 13 Doctors worked together to save Gallifrey in the 50th Anniversary Special.) But whatever it was (Obi-Wan Kenobi?), he was glad it made him do it.   
When Cas pulled away, he asked, "Was that...that just now, was that Dean or the Doctor?"  
"Depends on whether that was Cas or Rose," Dean replied, raising his eyebrows.   
"...Cas. That was definitely Cas."  
Dean smiled. "Then that was definitely Dean."


End file.
